Communications Training

Communication is an essential part of life at Sea. Aboard ship it’s essential to be able to talk to the world about us, to find out where we have to go, to tell our home port where we are, to find out about the weather before we find out about it the hard way, to talk to other vessels and to let them talk to us.

In an organisation like the Irish Naval Service there are also the concerns of security and safety as INS ships are more likely to be at sea in more hazardous conditions than would normally be expected by seafarers.

To maintain communications we have two separate groups of people. The Communications Operators, and the Radio Radar Technicians. Communications operators look after the normal communications between ship to shore and ship to ship. They do this around the clock. Communications Operators are the first to hear of distress calls aboard ship and must communicate with all local vessels and shore based facilities to aid in any distress.

So that the Communications Operators can do their job their equipment must be in good working order. This is the job of the Radio Radar Technician. He maintains all the ships radio equipment, radar equipment, and some of the most modern navigation equipment available. IN the event of failure of this equipment he is the person who must make it good and get it going again.